By Dan Williams and Matt Spetalnick WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the United States on Tuesday that it was negotiating a bad deal with Iran that could spark a "nuclear nightmare," drawing a rebuke from President Barack Obama and exposing a deepening U.S.-Israeli rift. Netanyahu made his case against Obama's Iran diplomacy in a speech to Congress that aligned himself with the president's Republican foes. Obama responded in the Oval Office, declaring in a frustrated tone that Netanyahu offered "nothing new." In its response, the Iranian government denounced Netanyahu's 39-minute speech as "boring and repetitive," the state news agency IRNA said. More »

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu stood before Congress on Tuesday and bluntly warned the U.S. that an emerging nuclear agreement with Iran "paves Iran's path to the bomb." President Barack Obama pushed back sternly, saying the U.S. would never sign such a deal and Netanyahu was offering no useful alternative. More »

BAGHDAD (AP) — Iranian-backed Shiite militias and Sunni tribes have joined Iraq's military in the operation to retake Saddam Hussein's hometown from the Islamic State group, but the U.S.-led coalition has not. More »

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a major address to Congress on Tuesday and warned against making a deal that could leave Iran on the path toward nuclear weapons. At the White House, President Barack Obama offered a pointed rebuttal during a brief Oval Office photo opportunity. Obama said he had read a transcript of the prime minister's remarks and that Netanyahu had offered no viable suggestions on how to prevent Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. More »

By Jeffrey Heller JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu may have made an argument that many Israelis support in warning Congress on Tuesday about a potential nuclear deal with Iran, but critics asked whether it was worth the widening rift with the White House. The address was broadcast live on Israeli television and radio, and came at a politically sensitive time -- just two weeks before a closely contested election in which Netanyahu is seeking a fourth term. Israeli political commentators called it a polished performance by the U.S.-educated politician, but agreed with President Barack Obama's assessment that Netanyahu offered nothing new in his criticism of U.S.-led talks with Iran. More »

U.S. stocks fell from record highs on Tuesday and the Nasdaq dropped below 5,000 a day after passing that milestone for the first time since the dot-com era 15 years ago. The losses were modest but broad, ... More »

By Arshad Mohammed MONTREUX, Switzerland (Reuters) - Iran rejected on Tuesday as "unacceptable" U.S. President Barack Obama's demand that it freeze sensitive nuclear activities for at least 10 years but said it would continue talks on a deal, Iran's semi-official Fars news agency reported. Iran laid out the position as the U.S. and Iranian foreign ministers met for a second day of negotiations and as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu delivered a stinging critique of the agreement they are trying to hammer out. Iranian Foreign Minister Mohammed Javad Zarif and U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met a day after Obama told Reuters that Iran must commit to a verifiable halt of at least 10 years on sensitive nuclear work for a landmark atomic deal to be reached. "Iran will not accept excessive and illogical demands," Zarif was quoted by Fars as saying. More »

The so-called P5+1 – Russia, France, US, UK, China and Germany – is negotiating with the Islamic Republic over extensive monitoring of its nuclear facilities in exchange for some sanctions relief. While no deal has been reached, Mr. Netanyahu said any agreement would pave the way to an Iranian nuclear bomb. "The greatest dangers facing our world is the marriage of militant Islam with nuclear weapons," he told the joint session of Congress. "That, my friends, is exactly what could happen, if the deal now being negotiated is accepted by Iran. More »

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's impassioned speech Tuesday in the US Congress impressed many Israelis in Jerusalem but drew criticism from others who said he was interfering in American affairs. More »

The Obama administration is against intelligence officials leaking classified information—but some conditions may apply. Just ask David Petraeus, the man who went from war hero to chief spy to disgraced adulterer in a few short years. While the juicy story was that the CIA director was having an affair with an Army Reserve officer writing his biography, his resignation and apology didn't end the legal issues. The retired four-star general still stood accused of providing classified information to Paula Broadwell, the writer, including binders featuring his daily schedule and notes from meetings with President Obama. More »

Four centuries ago, after a defeat to the French, Switzerland planted a seed in Europe. The model is so successful in fact that many nations in the troubled Middle East have for years tried to become “the Switzerland” of the region. With war now raging in Syria and Iraq, and with Israel at odds with Iran and nearby terrorist groups, is there a Middle East nation that can act as a nonaligned island of peace and a friendly intermediary in negotiations, like Switzerland? In 2003, in an attempt to reorder the Middle East, then-President George W. Bush hoped to turn Iraq into a Switzerland of the Middle East – by force. More »

By Arshad Mohammed and Angus McDowall MONTREUX, Switzerland/RIYADH (Reuters) - U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry flies to Riyadh this week to try to reassure King Salman that any nuclear deal with Iran will be in Saudi interests, despite the kingdom's fears that it may boost Tehran's backing for Shi'ite Muslim groups in the region. Convincing Saudi Arabia to accept any agreed nuclear deal is important to President Barack Obama because he needs Riyadh to work closely with Washington on a host of regional policies and to maintain its role as a moderating influence in oil markets. While the main critics of the U.S. push for a nuclear deal with Iran are Israel and Congressional Republicans, Sunni Muslim powerhouse Saudi Arabia is also concerned that an accord would allow Iran to devote more cash and energy to Shi'ite proxies in Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Yemen, escalating conflicts. More »

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Democratic leader Nancy Pelosi politely stood and clapped when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu entered the House chamber for his long-awaited, and highly controversial, speech to Congress. The longer he spoke, the less enthusiastic she got. More »

WASHINGTON (AP) — Excerpts from Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the U.S. Congress on Tuesday warning against making a deal that could leave Iran on the path toward nuclear weapons: More »

Iran denounced as "lie-spreading" a speech Tuesday in which Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned the US Congress a nuclear deal being negotiated with Tehran would threaten the world. More »

By Ahmed Rasheed and Dominic Evans BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Thousands of Iraqi soldiers and Shi'ite militiamen sought to seal off Islamic State fighters in Tikrit and nearby towns on Tuesday, the second day of Iraq's biggest offensive yet against a stronghold of the Sunni militants. Iranian military commander Qassem Soleimani, who has helped coordinate Baghdad's counter-attacks against Islamic State since it seized much of northern Iraq in June, was overseeing at least part of the operation, witnesses told Reuters. His presence on the frontline highlights neighbouring Iran's influence over the Shi'ite fighters who have been key to containing the militants in Iraq. More »

In the build-up to his controversial Congress appearance, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu quipped "never has so much been written about a speech that hasn't been given". From the outset, his goal was to make waves, not ripples - and his audience was as much the Israeli electorate as the US Congress. It is perhaps no coincidence the speech kicked off at 11am in the morning US time - an early start for a major Congress appearance, but just right for hitting peak-time viewing in Israel. The broader references to biblical stories, the Holocaust, and declaring the Jewish people will "never again remain passive in the face of genocidal enemies" all went beyond the issue of a nuclear Iran, and were intended to resonate with Israelis looking for a strong, security-minded leader. More »

WASHINGTON (AP) — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu overstated Iran's domination of the Middle East and understated the timespan of the nuclear deal taking shape with Tehran, while neglecting the role of Congress in lifting Iranian sanctions, in his speech to U.S. lawmakers Tuesday. More »

Five people were killed in an al Qaeda suicide attack on a Houthi outpost in central Yemen on Tuesday, the Defence Ministry said, highlighting the volatility of a country torn by militant and sectarian violence. The United States and its Gulf allies fear the spread of militant and sectarian violence in Yemen -- situated between oil giant Saudi Arabia and an important Red Sea shipping lane -- will push the country towards a civil war and unravel the state's already limited control over its territory. The ministry's news website said five people were also wounded in Tuesday's attack by a suicide bomber who detonated a vehicle laden with explosives on a youth centre used by the Houthi militia as an outpost in the city of al-Baydah. Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP), one of the Sunni Muslim militant groups battling the Shi'ite Houthis since they captured AQAP's central Yemen strongholds last year, said several of its members carried out the attack. More »

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell said on Tuesday the chamber was moving toward debate on a bill that would require President Barack Obama to submit any final nuclear deal with Iran for Congress' approval. The White House has said Obama would veto the Iran Nuclear Review Act, which was introduced by Republican Senator Bob Corker, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, and Democratic Senator Robert Menendez, the top Democrat on the panel. More »

Iran on Tuesday rejected Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's speech to the U.S. Congress on Tehran's nuclear programme as "boring and repetitive, the state news agency IRNA said. In his address, Netanyahu warned U.S. President Barack Obama against negotiating a nuclear agreement with Iran that would be a "countdown to a potential nuclear nightmare" by a country that "will always be an enemy of America". "The speech today by the Zionist regime's prime minister was boring and repetitive ... and part of the hardliners' election campaign in Tel Aviv," Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Marzieh Afkham said, IRNA reported. Iran says its nuclear energy programme is solely for civilian purposes, not bombs, and it is in talks with six world powers with an end-June deadline. More »

Well, Benjamin Netanyahu certainly knows how to give a speech. Netanyahu believes that Iran is playing the American administration for suckers. Netanyahu doesn't have a plausible, realistic plan to keep Iran from gaining possession of a nuclear weapon. 1. The speech had two targets, and neither one was Ayatollah Khamenei, the Iranian supreme leader. More »

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. President Barack Obama on Tuesday told reporters "as far as I can tell, there was nothing new" in Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's address to Congress panning U.S.-led nuclear talks with Iran. "The prime minister didn't offer any viable alternatives," Obama said, urging Congress to wait to evaluate a nuclear deal with Iran until an agreement is finalised. Obama said that he would only agree to a deal that prevents Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. (Reporting by Roberta Rampton; Editing by Susan Heavey) More »

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu failed to offer an alternative in his speech to the U.S. Congress on the ongoing nuclear talks with Iran, a senior U.S. administration official said on Tuesday. "Simply demanding that Iran completely capitulate is not a plan, nor would any country support us in that position. Netanyahu warned Congress against accepting a deal with Iran that President Barack Obama and his administration are deeply invested in negotiating, arguing that the deal would leave Iran with a "breakout time" of a year, which he said was too short. The senior U.S. official said that the administration was pursuing a deal that "verifiably prevents" Iran from obtaining a weapon, and increases the breakout time "substantially" to a year from the current estimate of two to three months. More »